Intellectual Montage

But they can also be serious tools for conveying information, a more meme-friendly version of Sergei Eisenstein's notion of intellectual montage for the internet age. The video below is my attempt at a sort of academic supercut that tries to convey some ideas about the cinematic history of Vienna's Prater amusement park by cutting together similar scenes in films from the silent era to the present.

Now I'll try it in words...

Whether it is starring in a melodrama from the 1920s or an action film from the 1990s, the cinematic Prater is almost always depicted in a montage sequence featuring a series of requisite shots: an extreme high-angle view from the Riesenrad, a close-up of balloons for sale, a leisurely ride through the park, and most significantly a liberated camera that takes a first-person perspective on an amusement ride. Add some dancing, music, and eventually the animatronic gorilla and you have the aesthetic ingredients for nearly every cinematic appearance the Prater has made.